Ms Marie's Tea Shop
by chaoticlivi
Summary: He visits the tea shop a lot. He likes tea, but that's not the reason he's there so often. Soul/Maka, AU. For Ocha-no-Deathscythe.


This was written earlier in the summer for Bethany, aka Ocha-no-Deathscythe. I'm finally uploading some of these old fics. If they are new to you, hope you enjoy! As always, I claim no ownership of Soul Eater.

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It was nice of Ms. Marie to give Maka and Soul some time to use the back room, but Maka wouldn't be surprised if the overly-romantic storeowner had some ulterior motives. Like playing the matchmaker for her employee. Even Maka had to admit that this wasn't just about introducing Soul to new tea anymore, though, so she merely rolled her eyes when Marie left with a girlish giggle to go take over the cash register.

"Hey." Soul knocked at the door and Maka signaled for him to come in and sit down at the little table in the middle.

"So what's this blend you're so excited about?" Soul asked as he pulled out a quaint wooden chair. She had sent him a text that said 'Marie's letting me borrow the tearoom! Come try that blend I told you about!' While she had actually told him about it on multiple occasions, he had never tried it. Despite the fact that he visited the tea shop on a regular basis - partly for tea, mostly for other reasons - he had never bought this blend, because he wanted to save it for a time they could have it together.

'Ok but you're trying my favorite too,' he'd responded.

"Here. Smell. It's incredible. The flavor is both really strong and really soothing at once." She offered him a sniff from the glass jar that stored it. This was a black and oolong blend, and it smelled potently of cinnamon and almond with a few other smooth and spicy flavors mixed in.

"Mmm. That does smell good," Soul agreed.

"It's my favorite out of everything," Maka said.

"What does Ms. Marie call it?"

"Clavier." She had not always been confident about pronouncing French words, but after discussing it often enough, she finally had this one down.

Soul rolled his eyes but smiled affectionately. "Of course she did." Ms. Marie loved naming her blends in other languages.

"She thinks it's romantic," Maka grinned. "What was it you wanted me to try?"

"That Risolutezza stuff." His brother teased him about it regularly, because it was such a flowery, feminine tea. It involved rose petals and marigolds, blue cornflowers and peach, vanilla and apricot, among others. But it was still a very strong blend, and as smooth as silk.

"Ah, okay." Maka grabbed one of the small samples from the cabinet and put it on the table next to Clavier.

Maka set the kettle on the little stove, and joined Soul at the small table while they waited for it to heat up. She chose to sit in the seat next to him rather than across the table because sometimes, lately, he would rest his arm or leg against her for minutes at a time.

This back room was a cozy place, and thankfully it was air conditioned. They could simultaneously enjoy the sunshine through the large windows and drink hot tea without working up a sweat. It functioned as a sort of break area for Marie, Maka, and the few other employees during work hours, but Marie would often spend hours here after the store closed or on days when business was slow, coming up with new tea blends and exotic, romantic names for them. She had decorated it with antique tea paraphernalia, pictures of birds, flowers, snow, and autumn leaves and - oddly enough - plenty of decorative lamps for use on late nights.

Fortunately, they were past the awkward phase of needing to create small talk at every moment. Maka just set up the teaware with the appropriate amount of leaves.

"You're still wearing your apron," Soul said, tugging at one of the strings that held it on.

"Oh, I forgot." Maka yanked it off in one fluid motion. "I guess she could ask me to go back out there, but I doubt she will. It's slow today." She peered out the door in the corner of the room, which led to the main shop. No customers were in there. Marie was standing over the counter taking notes.

When the teapot started whistling, Soul asked, "How is the shop doing? Getting enough customers, d'you think?"

"I don't know anything about business, but I think so. Marie seems pretty relaxed, at any rate."

While the teas steeped, Maka asked Soul about his own day. He had been rehearsing for a performance as part of a play. "It was fine," he answered, "but I'll be glad when we actually open. I'm sick of rehearsal. I never screw up, anyway - it's always the actors."

"Mm." Maka had been surprised to learn when they first met that Soul was on track to become a professional pianist. She had been working at the little tea shop to help pay for college, and when he'd mentioned he played, she'd asked him to play the small piano Marie kept in the main part of the shop. Maka had not been expecting to be so haunted and fascinated by his music. She soon found out that he didn't enjoy playing in front of people when he wasn't working, though.

He'd kept coming back to the shop - first weekly, then every couple of days. For a while, he bought tea every time, some blend his family enjoyed. Marie revealed that she had known the Evans family since the children were small, but Soul had not made a habit of coming in on his own until now.

She seemed to think he'd been coming just to see Maka. At first Maka thought that was ridiculous, but she had to admit Marie was probably right when Soul started showing up and leaving every few days without actually buying anything or even bothering to browse the product. He'd just show up, say hello, talk for awhile, and leave. In that time, they'd learned a lot about each other, and had even started meeting outside the tea shop for maybe-dates (it was hard to tell).

But now their beverages were ready. "Cheers," they both said, and sipped at their cups.

"What do you think?" Maka asked, peeking over her cup first.

"It's really strong," Soul answered. "Wow. I'll have to get used to it."

"You don't like it, then?" Maka asked. The saddened look in her eyes made Soul's heart clench (probably disproportionately to her disappointment, really).

"No! Don't get me wrong, I do!" he said emphatically, and found that he was telling the truth. "I love the flavors. I'm just not used to it. It's overwhelming." He nodded at her cup. "But what about yours? How is it?"

"Different from how I thought it would be," Maka said. "It's really flowery and delicate, but it's alsostrong. That's a good thing, though."

"Yeah, the smell is all…I dunno, pretty and sweet, so you expect it to be mild, but it'll kick your ass. Kind of like you," Soul grinned.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Relax. It's a compliment."

The two sipped their teas in thoughtful silence, testing the flavors for several minutes. They would look over their cups at each other, studying facial expressions. Soul felt there was a slightly competitive edge to this interaction, like a question of who would judge the other's favored blend to be better.

Sometimes they would make eye contact over the rims of their cups. Neither really knew whether or not it was intentional, but it would always result in a smile and an encouraging nod.

"Hang on a second. D-did you just call me pretty and sweet?" Maka asked, eyes widening suddenly.

"N- ah, ye- well, I was talking about the tea?" Soul tried. He gave up on hoping the warm feeling on his cheeks would not translate into a visible blush.

"Ah. Well," she said, nodding at Soul's cup, "that tea reminds me of you."

"Oh?" Soul lifted an eyebrow. "Why? Do I smell like almond extract?"

"Haha. No." She wasn't sure how to properly articulate 'you have your own smell and all I ever want to do is borrow your sweaters because they smell like you,' so she decided to tease him instead. "The taste is both bitter and a little sour."

"You're calling me bitter and sour?"

"But…it's also a complex scent and taste. And warm, not just in temperature. And - I think there's a little sweetness, too."

"So are you complimenting me or not?"

"Well, I'm just commenting on the tea like you were." She gave him a self-contented smile and sipped from her cup while Soul sighed. He leaned forward to put his own cup on the table; the carefree atmosphere had worn away, and his tea felt heavy, because the truth was going to tumble from his lips.

"Okay. Fine. I admit I was calling you pretty and sweet. And kickass."

Maka leaned forward to put her cup back on its saucer, too, but found she had trouble making eye contact in case he laughed and told her it was all a joke. When no laughter came, she hazarded a glance into his eyes and found him equally bashful.

"And I was calling you complicated and warm. And also sweet. …Bitter and sour sometimes too, though."

Soul leaned closer to her. "Thanks. I do like your tea. I really do. But…I don't come in here all the time to shop for tea. I come because I know you'll probably be working."

"And I'm always glad you do," Maka said. It wasn't his face or his body that attracted her to him, primarily - it was the sheer level of trust he inspired in her and the mysterious beauty of his music - but she had to admit to herself that his striking hair and eyes and strong chin and broad shoulders made her heart pound.

Almost two decades old and he'd never initiated a kiss. He felt like an idiot, staring into her eyes from so close. They were such a lovely shade of green, and while he was drawn first to her upright, fiery demeanor and kindness, the beauty of her delicate face and small, sturdy frame took his breath away. It seemed so right to just go for it, but was he supposed to ask first? She answered all his questions for him as she closed the gap between their mouths.

It was such a feather-light touch. But the feeling of her lips on his was so soft and so warm that they lingered for a while, cautiously going in for more each time. Soul's hands moved from their resting place on his knees to intertwine their fingers on the table..

Soul had her favorite tea on his breath, and she had his. They drank each other in gingerly, wanting the moment to last but fully aware that they were not in a safe place for making out.

Soul was the one to finally speak against her lips. "Should we be doing this here?"

"Hmm. Well, I think Marie has been trying to hook us up for months now," Maka grinned, "but maybe you're right. We should clean up and go home." She stood up to rinse off the teaware, and Soul stood up next to her.

"Do you want to go see a movie or something?" he blurted.

"Good idea," she said, smiling mischievously. "Let's sit at the back of the theater."

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Also! Yes I hope you noticed but in case you didn't…Clavier and Risolutezza were based on Bethany's tea blends! Clavier is the blend she made for Soul, and Risolutezza is Maka's.


End file.
